Dolphins cut Dan Carpenter

Posted by Josh Alper on August 14, 2013, 4:25 PM EDT

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It looks like fifth-round pick Caleb Sturgis will be the Dolphins kicker this season.

The Dolphins announced Wednesday afternoon that they have released veteran kicker Dan Carpenter, who was competing with Sturgis for the job in Miami this season. It’s not a huge surprise since teams don’t tend to draft kickers without plans to give them the job once the regular season rolls around.

Carpenter spent the last five years with the Dolphins, connecting on 81.9 percent of his field goal tries over that time and going to the Pro Bowl after the 2009 season. He made both field goals he tried in the Hall of Fame Game, but didn’t try any kicks during the Dolphins’ second preseason game against the Jaguars. The Dolphins will save $2.675 million by cutting Carpenter.

Carpenter has struggled with accuracy at points during his career, but he’s still likely to be on the list of veteran kickers called by teams in search of kicking help this season.

Carpenter has a big leg, but it isn’t about making 60 yarders – it’s about hitting 85% from 45 yds in; he can’t do that anymore – and in a league where nearly half the games are decided by FG, you can’t count on him.

If you look at Carpenter’s misses last year, they’re extremely frustrating b/c he would always just barely miss to the right or left uprights. I almost felt as if he as jinxed or snake-bitten.

In fact, the entire season felt a little snake-bitten. As a Phins fan I’m used to losing (hahaha…doh), but I can’t remember a season where I got into more shouting matches with my television set. We managed to clinch defeat from the jaws of victory so many different times.

If you look at all of Carpenter’s misses over his ENTIRE CAREER, not just last year, he has missed more than his fair share of crucial kicks. Two BIG misses last year but lots of other games over the years.